


By Any Other Name

by Mayarene Rose (Paradise_of_Mary_Jane)



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: M/M, Nicknames
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-09
Updated: 2016-09-09
Packaged: 2018-08-14 01:06:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7992994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paradise_of_Mary_Jane/pseuds/Mayarene%20Rose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cisco keeps accidentally calling Barry bae.</p>
            </blockquote>





	By Any Other Name

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this in a giffy and minimally edited because I had to get it out. You probably know why.
> 
> Edit: Okay, so I went back and re-read this and... I made a few minor edits to stop myself from cringing too much. Mostly grammar and awkward phrasings.

“Bae—Barry!”

Cisco winces, feeling himself turn red. Over on the comms, Barry skids to a stop and, if his ears aren’t deceiving him, falls flat on his face, making a spluttering sound all the way.

Caitlin turns to him with a raised eyebrow. Cisco’s learned from experience to be very, very afraid when Caitlin gets that look. Killer Frost has nothing on his Caitlin with that look. Harry makes a sound of distaste.

“Not my bae, definitely not my bae,” he says. Caitlin smiles at him like he said something cute. “He’s… Barry.”

“Yeah,” Barry says and it’s said in such an awkward, uncomfortable tone that Cisco can’t help but wince again. “We’re not… Baes.”

“Whatever you say,” Caitlin says with a shrug and a small smile. The look in her eye says that she and Cisco will definitely be talking about this later. Cisco will definitely be avoiding that conversation like the plague. “What’s happening over there, Barry?”

It takes a moment for Barry to answer.

“Well she’s…”

Cisco lets himself get lost in the adrenaline of fighting their meta of week and not the rapid beating of his own heart.

 

 

 

 

\--

 

 

 

 

“Uhm… Earlier, you called me…” Barry trails off. It’s alright. Cisco got the meaning just fine.

“It’s nothing,” Cisco says, not meeting Barry’s eyes. “Just a nickname, y’know. Felt right.” He shrugs pathetically. Can he be more obvious?

“Oh,” Barry says. “Well… It’s good. I kinda like it, and maybe you should keep using it. If you want to that is,” he adds quickly.

“If I want to,” Cisco echoes. It’s not that he doesn’t want to. Cisco really wants to. It’s that he’s not going to let himself get to the point of making his already blindingly obvious crush on Barry all the more evident.

 

 

 

\--

 

 

 

 

The problem is it’s not the only time it happens. Cisco… Well, he’s not gonna deny his super-massive, ultimate crush on Barry Allen; really, who can actually help themselves from crushing that body, and that dorky face? Cisco sure as hell can’t.

The baes are… Let’s call them Freudian slips.

Barry—as with everything Barry does because he is naturally a ridiculously nice person who just radiates sunshine and good things—takes it in stride, like he said he would. If taking it in stride means alternating between endearingly enthusiastic about it and endearingly awkward.

(Cisco never said Barry Allen was particularly cool. Fun fact: he’s really not.)

So Cisco lets it continue, the word slipping from his tongue easier than Barry’s own name. Caitlin has long since stopped him giving looks over it despite the fact that Cisco never really took her up on that talk, Harry, as usual doesn’t care, Iris and Joe look at the two of them like they’re particularly cute puppies.

Sometimes, Barry calls him ‘bae’ as well. Cisco acts like it’s cool (or as cool as someone like Cisco can ever act like) and tries not to read too much into it.

It’s just a nickname. Cisco wants it to be something more but… Well, he’s never been _that_ lucky.

 

 

 

 

\--

 

 

 

 

Life goes on. They work to save Central City from an astonishing number of evil metas, Harry’s still usually a dick, Cisco sometimes dreams of things that don’t happen on this Earth (This week features a flying, smoking hot alien who’s pretty much indestructible, and a guy who likes bats way too much fighting to the death. There are two worlds that are just too weird to comprehend.), and he and Barry have their weekly movie nights.

(Except they’re not confined to movies anymore. They went to a fancy Chinese restaurant that Barry wanted to check out once.

And come to think of it, they’re not confined to nights, either, because he and Barry went to that Science Museum in Keystone once. And the beach. And that video game store Cisco loves.)

The nickname sticks. Cisco still doesn’t look too much into it. It’s just another part of his wild life. Nothing else.

 

 

 

\--

 

 

 

 

“So,” Iris says when the two of them settle down on a table. Cisco doesn’t really know Iris that well and Iris doesn’t really know Cisco that well, but the two of them have been trying to remedy that. Hence, the coffee dates in Jitters. “Bae.”

Cisco groans, putting his face in his hands. It may be a part of his life, but like he said, it’s not a part that he wants to look too much into. Or like, at all.

“What?” Iris asks, sounding defensive and amused at the same time. “It’s cute.”

“Nope, it’s not cute,” Cisco says. “It’s just a nickname. Nicknames are my thing. There’s nothing ‘cute’ about it.”

“I didn’t mean that,” Iris says with a roll of her eyes. “You and Barry aren’t normally obvious with your relationship. I think it’s cute you have coupley nicknames for each other.”

“Wha—Barry and I are not anything!” Cisco’s mind is racing, trying to fully digest and… can’t. Unreadable Data. System Error. Abort. Abort. Abort. “We’re not—There are no coupley nicknames to give!”

“Really?” Iris asks, surprised. “Because you and Barry call each other bae all the time, and you have all those movie nights—”

“To watch movies!”

“Lots of things happen while watching movies, Cisco,” Iris says, with a playful smirk on her lips. She nudges his arm. “C’mon, we’re friends, aren’t we? And I’ve known Barry my entire life. You can tell me all the juicy details of your ‘thing’.”

“Well either I’ve been missing something or it there’s no ‘thing’ going on between us.”

Iris raises an eyebrow as if she’s actually suggesting that—No. Nope. Just no.

“I resent the implication of your eyebrow,” Cisco says.

Iris’ eyebrow rises higher and Cisco considers being offended. He may not be the most experienced in the field of dating, but he thinks he’d notice if he were dating a guy who is totally out of his league.

“It’s—”

“Are you sure?” Iris asks. “Because Barry talks like it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to him. I’m pretty sure he used the word ‘boyfriend’ several times.”

Cisco’s mouth opens and closes out of its own accord. He’s not really sure what he can say to that.

“Wait, don’t tell me you don’t know?”

Cisco silently shakes his head.

Iris gives a low whistle.

“Wow,” she says, shaking her head. “Only the two of you would get yourselves in this mess. Talk to Barry, Cisco.”

“He really used the word boyfriend?” Cisco asks. Iris nods.

“He uses it whenever he’s not using bae,” Iris says. “It’s cute in that weird, Barry way.”

It does sound like something Barry would do if he had a relationship with anyone (he actually has already done that. Case in point: Linda and Patty.) Cisco can’t quite wrap his head around the fact that Barry’s applying it to _Cisco._

“I think I have to talk to Barry,” Cisco says, feeling light-headed. Iris pats him on the arm.

“Yeah, you should,” she says.

 

 

 

 

\--

 

 

 

 

“Are we—”

Caitlin doesn’t look up from the blood sample she’s analyzing.

“Yes Cisco, you are.”

Cisco’s hands fidget.

“Oh,” he says. “Okay.”

 

 

 

 

\--

 

 

 

“Iris and Caitlin we’re dating,” Cisco says in the middle of Wrath of Khan. They’ve watched the movie enough times that they can stand to miss a few minutes. Just a few, though. It’s still Wrath of Khan. Barry stiffens beside Cisco.

“Aren’t we?” he asks warily and that just about answers Cisco’s question, doesn’t it.

Holy shit.

“Oh my God,” Barry says, turning red and pulling away completely. Cisco can’t even stop him because: speedster. “Have I been completely misreading what’s going on?”

Cisco still can’t get his mouth to work for some reason, which, really, really terrible timing. If there was ever a time for speechlessness, this is not it.

“Oh my God.” Barry stands up, hands fumbling on his coat. “I’m just—yeah.”

“Wait! Don’t… go.”

Barry’s gone.

(One of the problems with having a speedster for a maybe-boyfriend: There’s always a chance that they’re going to do something that you can’t even begin to keep up with.)

Cisco sighs and takes out his phone, ignoring the trembling of his hands.

“Barry,” he says when Barry picks up. “C’mon dude, come back here. Let’s talk about this. I’m not gonna, like, say anything horrible.”

“I just thought you’d want to be alone after…” Barry mumbles. “I should have noticed you didn’t see things like that.”

“What if I want to, though,” Cisco says. Barry makes a choking sound over the phone. He winces, biting his lip. “Look, just come back to my apartment, okay. This feels more like a face-to-face conversation.”

A gust of wind and there’s Barry Allen, breathless and right in front of him.

(One of the perks: they’ll always be there when you need them to be.)

“Look,” Cisco says. “I don’t—I don’t know why I didn’t notice that the things we were actually doing were actually dates because in retrospect, they’re pretty obvious. But… I just, maybe want to have more, where I actually know what’s going on?”

“For real?”

“For real,” Cisco says nodding. “I’ve had a crush on you since… Well, since I first saw you and it’s really hard to wrap my head around this.”

“You’ve had—Can I kiss you, because I don’t think I can stop myself any longer?”

“Don’t you think this is incredibly awkward?” Cisco asks uncertainly.

“Well, a bit, yeah,” Barry says, scratching the back of his head. “More than a bit actually, but… But, better late than never, right?”

Cisco nods and suddenly Barry’s lips are pressed against his, soft and gentle. Cisco kisses him back with as much enthusiasm as he can muster.

It’s the best damn feeling he’s ever had the pleasure of experiencing.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> If you haven't seen the [season 2 gag reel you should totally see it. It's awesome. The part this fic was inspired by occurs at around 3:20. Check me out on ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToDD3dMq2DU)[Tumblr](https://daisyetcisco.tumblr.com)!


End file.
